APES Test 1

Question 1

1. What is symbiosis? What types of species interactions are examples of symbiosis?

Answer 1

Symbiosis refers to the long-term relationships between two species in an ecosystem. The types of symbiotic relationships include mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Question 2

2. What is mutualism? Give an example.

Answer 2

Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit from the interaction. An example of this is when a bee pollinates flowers (bee collects nectar, then spreads flower’s pollen)

Question 3

3. What is commensalism? Give an example.

Answer 3

Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits, and the other is unaffected. An example of this is when a squirrel seeks shelter in a tree, which is unaffected by the squirrel’s presence.

Question 4

4. What is parasitism? Give an example.

Answer 4

Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits, and the other is negatively impacted. An example of this is leeches, which suck on the blood of other organisms, benefiting the leech but hurting the other species.

Question 5

5. What is competition? Given an example.

Answer 5

Competition refers to the idea that organisms of the same species will compete for natural resources needed for survival within an ecosystem. An example of this two distinct groups of apes fighting over territory and border distributions.

Question 6

6. What is predation? Give an example.

Answer 6

Predation refers to the general idea of when a predator feeds on prey. An example of this is wolves and foxes hunting pygmy rabbits.

Question 7

7. How can changes in resource availability affect different species interactions?

Question 8

8. What is primary productivity?

Answer 8

Primary productivity is rate at which solar energy is converted to organic compounds (like glucose) through photosynthesis.

Question 9

9. What is gross primary productivity? How do you calculate it?

Answer 9

Gross primary productivity is the total amount of energy produced from photosynthesis within a region. If given net primary productivity (NPP) and cellular respiration, gross primary productivity can be calculated like this: GPP = NPP + cellular respiration

Question 10

10. What is net primary productivity? How do you calculate it?

Answer 10

Net primary productivity is the amount of energy that can move up in the food chain after cellular respiration. If given gross primary productivity (GPP) and cellular respiration, net primary productivity can be calculated like this: NPP = GPP - cellular respiration

Question 11

11. How would human activity, like deforestation and clear cutting, affect the primary productivity of a forest?

Answer 11

Deforestation and clearcutting results in the removal of a lot of trees that play a critical role towards the gross primary productivity, meaning that a lot less energy is produced. This impacts overall impacts primary productivity and the rest of the forest because the net primary productivity, as a result of a lower gross primary productivity, will be less, meaning that less energy can be transferred to species higher in the food chain.

Question 12

1.8 vocab: photosynthesis

Answer 12

Photosynthesis refers to the process of
plants (producers) converting solar energy into energy.

Question 13

12. Which direction does energy flow through a food chain/food web?

Question 14

13. Only certain organisms can harness energy from the sun. What are these organisms called?

Answer 14

The certain organisms that can harness energy from the sun are called producers (autotroph), which are able to perform photosynthesis.

Question 15

vocab 1.9: trophic levels

Answer 15

Trophic levels refer to the successive levels of organisms consuming each other (the different levels in the pyramid).

Question 16

15. How much energy transfers from one trophic level to the next? Be able to calculate this given a word problem.

Answer 16

About 10% of energy transfers from one trophic level to the next, hence the name the 10% rule.

Question 17

16. What happens to the ~90% of energy not transferred to the next trophic level?

Question 18

17. How is a food web different from a food chain?

Answer 18

Although similar, a food web depicts the species interactions for a whole ecosystem, comprised of several food chains. On the other hand, a food chain only depicts how energy flows from one organism to the next, in a linear relationship between species.

Question 19

18. What is the significance of the direction of the arrows in a food web?

Answer 19

The direction of the arrow indicates the direction of which energy is transferred towards in terms of trophic levels. For example: producers –> primary consumers –> secondary consumers –> tertiary consumers, etc.

Question 20

19. Given a food web, be able to explain how a change in the population of one species will impact another.

Answer 20

If there is too much of one species, it could consume too much of the species below it, causing the lower trophic level is run out and there eventually not being enough food later on. If there is too little of one species, other species might not be able to remain controlled and other populations could grow uncontrollably.

Question 21

20. Given a description, be able to create a food web for an ecosystem.

Answer 21

N/A

Question 22

2.1 vocab: biodiversity

Answer 22

Biodiversity refers to the amount of different species living in an area at a given time.

Question 23

2.1 vocab: species richness

Answer 23

Species richness refers to the abundance of food, habitat, and ecosystem services.

Question 24

2.1 vocab: genetic diversity

Answer 24

Genetic diversity refers to how many genes are present in a gene pool. It makes a species more resilient since it is more likely that the species will develop resistance faster.

Question 25

2.1 vocab: habitat loss

Question 26

21. Give examples of provisioning services.

Question 27

22. Give examples of regulating services.

Question 28

23. Give examples of supporting services.

Question 29

24. Give examples of cultural services.

Question 30

25. What are some abiotic factors to consider when analyzing the ecological tolerance of a species?

Question 31

26. How could human disturbances (like deforestation) affect the ecological tolerance of species?

Question 32

2.4 vocab: ecological tolerance

Answer 32

Ecological tolerance refers to the range of conditions, such as temperature, salinity, flow rate, and sunlight, that an organism can endure before injury or death results.

Question 33

2.4 vocab: abiotic factors

Question 34

27. What is the difference between primary and secondary succession?

Question 35

28. How do keystone species influence ecosystems and their food webs?

Answer 35

A keystone species in an ecosystem is a species whose activities have a particularly significant role in determining community structure. This could be due to their ability to control the population of a specific species in a food web, if left uncontrolled, would devastate the entire ecosystem.

Question 36

29. Are pioneer species more likely to be K-selected or r-selected? Why?

Answer 36

Pioneer species are more likely to be r-selected species since r-selected species have high intrinsic growth rates, meaning that the species can quickly reproduce. This is likely to be a characteristic of a pioneer species since they need to be adaptable and quick to reproduce in new environments.

Question 37

30. A forest experiences a high intensity wildfire. Explain how you think succession will occur in the area.

Question 38

2.7 vocab: ecological succession

Question 39

2.7 vocab: pioneer species

Question 40

31. What are key characteristics of specialists?

Answer 40

Specialist species are ones that require very specific needs in order to survive (low ecological tolerance).

Question 41

32. What are key characteristics in generalists?

Answer 41

Generalist species are one that can survive on a range of conditions and eat a variety of foods (high ecological tolerance).

Question 42

33. Are generalists or specialists more likely to adapt in times of great change (e.g. after a large wildfire or clear cutting)? Why?

Answer 42

Generalist species are more likely to adapt in times of great change because they have high ecological tolerance, meaning that they can survive in a wider range of conditions, therefore meaning that they could better adapt to the new conditions following a great change to the ecosystem/environment.

Question 43

34. What are key characteristics of K-selected species?

Answer 43

A K-selected species is one with a low intrinsic growth rate that causes the population to increase slowly until it reaches carrying capacity.

Question 44

35. What are key characteristics in r-selected species?

Answer 44

A r-selected species is one that has a high intrinsic growth rate, which often leads to population overshoots and die-offs.

Question 45

36. Are generalists or specialists more likely to be invasive species? Why?

Answer 45

Generalists are more likely to be an invasive species because they have higher ecological tolerance and are better able to adapt to the conditions in different regions and find ways to prosper.

Question 46

37. Would K-selected or r-selected species be more adversely affected by invasive species? Why?

Answer 46

K-selected species would be more adversely affected by invasive species compared to r-selected species because K-selected species have slower reproductive rates, longer generation times, and are typically adapted to stable environments, making them less resilient to competition from rapidly reproducing invasive species that can quickly exploit new habitats.

Question 47

38. What survivorship curve(s) do K-selected species typically follow?

Answer 47

Type 1 (high survivability rates at young age, lots die at old age)

Question 48

39. What survivorship curve(s) do r-selected species typically follow?

Answer 48

Type 3 (low survivability at young age, few survive to old age)

Question 49

40. Be able to identify survivorship graphs based odd information provided and/or given a picture of the curves.

Question 50

41. Describe carrying capacity and factors that can influence a populations carrying capacity.

Question 51

42. Explain what happens when a population exceeds its carrying capacity (use terms "overshoot" and "die-off").

Question 52

3.4 vocab: overshoot

Question 53

3.4 vocab: die off

Question 54

3.4 vocab: J curve / exponential growth

Question 55

3.4 vocab: S curve / logistic growth

Question 56

43. How do limiting resources influence population growth? Give some examples of limiting factors.

Question 57

44. If the resources a populations needs are abundant, what would happen to the rate of population growth? What happens when there aren't enough resources?

Question 58

3.5 vocab: density dependent factors

Question 59

3.5 vocab: density independent factors

Question 60

45. Describe the tragedy of the commons.

Question 61

46. What are strategies for preventing or mitigating the tragedy of the commons?

Question 62

47. Give some examples of the tragedy of the commons.

Question 63

48. What are the economic aspects/factors of clearcutting?

Question 64

49. What are the environmental aspects/factors of clearcutting?

Question 65

50. What are the social aspects/factors of clearcutting?

Question 66

51. How does clear cutting contribute to climate change?

Question 67

5.2 vocab: clearcutting

Question 68

5.2 vocab: deforestation

Question 69

52. Slash-and-burn farming is a practice that is commonly used in agriculture to clear large areas of trees quickly. What are the environmental impacts of this practice?

Question 70

5.4 vocab: slash and burn farming

Question 71

53. What are some methods for mitigating deforestation?

Question 72

54. What are prescribed burns? Why are they beneficial?

Question 73

5.17 vocab: selective cutting

Answer 73

Selective cutting mimics the natural way an ecosystem works, cutting down trees that are damaged, diseased, or old and will fall.

Question 74

55. What are invasive species? How do they affect native species?

Answer 74

Invasive species are ones that come from a foreign region and are presented in a new location in which they can prosper. Most commonly, these invasive species take up the resources needed by native species and disrupt the local ecosystem.

Question 75

56. Are invasive species normally generalists or specialists? K-selected or r-selected? How do you know?

Question 76

57. What are some human activities that might endanger other species?

Question 77

58. How does genetic diversity help prevent species from being considered endangered?

Question 78

59. How could competition contribute to the endangerment of species?

Answer 78

Competition most often comes from there being a limiting resource, necessitating competition for species to get the natural resources they need to survive. If the amount of available resources is less, species will need to work harder to get those resources, meaning that others will not get access to these vital resources, resulting in their death.

Question 79

60. What can humans do to protect animal populations from becoming endangered?

Question 80

61. Describe what habitat fragmentation is and how it affects biodiversity.

Question 81

62. How do habitat destruction, invasive species, and overexploitation affect biodiversity?

Question 82

63. What can humans do to mitigate the impact of habitat fragmentation and the loss of biodiversity?

Question 83

9.10 vocab: overexplotation

Question 84

9.10 vocab: habitat restoration

Question 85

9.10 vocab: habitat corridors